Girls basketball: York falls in Wildcat Invitational championship

Make it four straight years that the Wildcat Invitational hardware is heading back to Massachusetts.

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By Mike Zhe

seacoastonline.com

By Mike Zhe

Posted Jan. 2, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Mike Zhe

Posted Jan. 2, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

Make it four straight years that the Wildcat Invitational hardware is heading back to Massachusetts.

Pentucket Regional High School may have graduated a pair of standouts off a Massachusetts Division 3 championship team, but if Saturday night was any indication, its cupboard is far from bare.

The Sachems found their shooting touch early and that, coupled with their trademark defense, was too much for the York girls to handle in the final, a one-sided affair that handed the hosts a 57-30 loss, one of the biggest in their recent memory.

"There are different levels," said York coach Rick Clark, placing his hand at shoulder height afterward. "We're here. We think we're pretty good because we were undefeated (coming in). Now, we realize there's another level."

The Wildcats are 6-0 in Maine Class B and beat Spaulding, a Division 1 program in New Hampshire, 48-27, in the semifinals on Friday. But they were on their heels from the start in this one, falling behind 17-2 out of the gate as Pentucket hit its first four 3-point shot attempts.

The Sachems, who went 23-4 last year, pride themselves on their defense, and that was evident from the opening tip. Their full-court press forced the Wildcats into 10 turnovers in the first six minutes, the game played in two 16-minute halves instead of four quarters.

"We didn't respond too well," said Clark. "We were dribbling with our heads down, which is what they want, and when we passed they were tentative passes."

Backup forward Chloe Smedley, a freshman, led the Wildcats with six points, all from the foul line. Forward Marquis MacGlashing added five and her usual share of offensive rebounds, few of which were converted into points.

Senior guard Nicole Viselli and sophomore guard Kelsi McNamara led the Sachems with 15 points apiece. But their pressing defense was a team effort, with everyone seemingly in the right place and in the right face.

"Defense is our game," said Pentucket coach John McNamara. "When we get after it defensively, when we start out that way, the rest of our game feeds off it."

The Sachems, who stayed in the area overnight and had a nice contingent of supporters on hand, shot poorly from the outside in their semifinal win over Dover on Friday. But they made their first four from beyond the arc Saturday, three of those by Kelsi McNamara.

"We shot lights out," said John McNamara, whose team only got a minute from UMass-Lowell commit Alex Moore, who is easing back into action after getting her tonsils removed. "York is a very good team. If we played 10 times it would probably be a different outcome (than this)."

"All four Massachusetts (champions) have been good," said Clark, who guided York to a Maine Class B championship in 2009-10. "We had (Niki) Taylor and (Stephanie) Gallagher on that undefeated state champion team and lost in overtime (to Melrose in 2009). We want to continue the tradition of having strong Mass. teams here."

The Wildcats could draw some positives from the second half, especially defensively, when they played their foes even up until the benches were cleared late.

For Clark, it brought back memories of last year's 44-28 loss to Greely in the Western Maine Class B semifinals, one of the few times the Wildcats have been thoroughly handled in recent memory.

Saturday was another.

"Hopefully, we come out of here tougher and learn from it," said Clark. "That's what's happened in the past."